WALTER

American Chocolate Machinery Co. (1902-1905)
New York, New York
Walter Automobile Co.
New York, New York (1905-1906)
Trenton, New Jersey (1906-1909)

This is a Walter nameplate/serial plate (c1903-1905)   mjs
Size: 95mm wide 62mm high   MM: None

William Walter was a successful manufacturer of confectionary-making machinery in New York City. In 1898 he built his first car in his confectionary-making machinery factory and, after experimenting and improving his design, he introduced a 12 hp two-cylinder touring car to the market in 1902 as the Waltomobile. In 1903 a 24 hp four-cylinder touring was added and the name was changed to Walter. The Walter was built in small numbers and then a new Walter model was introduced at the New York Automobile Show in January 1904. It was a large and lavish 30 hp four-cylinder tonneau, which received great attention and interest.

The Walter Automobile Company was incorporated in 1905 and in 1906 manufacture of the Walter moved to Newark, New Jersey and French engineer Etienne Planche joined the company. Larger 40 hp and 50 hp Walter models appeared in 1906 and in 1909 a new car was introduced, which was initially called a Walter but the name was soon changed to Roebling-Planche.

By May 1909 it was announced that the Walter Automobile Company was in financial trouble and a week later the company became the Mercer Automobile Company (see Mercer). William Walter returned to his American Chocolate Machinery Company in New York where he began to build commercial vehicles (see Walter Truck).

Emblem

The early Waltomobile and Walter motor cars did not carry an emblem but did display the Walter name on a small nameplate or serial plate attached to the body of the car. 

The Walter combined nameplate/serial plate was an elaborate cast bronze plate in the form of the company trademark, see example shown above at the top of this post. The example shown is interesting, as the serial number space has been scored through, presumably to prevent it from being used outside the company. This Walter nameplate/serial plate is extremely rare.

The following advertisement from 1907 shows a Walter car built in Trenton, New Jersey and a new logo or trademark in the shape of a hub face:

Walter ad with new logo (1907)  ebay

The following illustration of a 1907 Walter car built at Trenton, New Jersey does not show a radiator emblem, which appears to confirm that the Walter logo shown above represented the hubcap rather than a radiator emblem.

Walter advertisement (1907)   classicspeedsters

However, the cover of a 1907 Walter brochure has a drawing of a Walter car showing a small radiator script, see below:

Walter brochure detail showing Walter car (1907)  classicspeedsters

Detail showing small radiator script 

The following very small Walter script emblem may be from a Walter automobile, but I cannot confirm this. If this is indeed a Walter automobile script emblem it would be extremely rare.

This appears to be a Walter script emblem (date unknown)  ms
Size: Unknown